Epithelial cells permit selective and regulated flux from apical to basolateral surfaces by transcellular or paracellular flux. Tight junctions form a continuous paracellular seal between apical and basolateral fluid compartments and control solute movement through the paracellular pathway across epithelia.
The retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) plays a role in regulating the microenvironment around the photoreceptors in the distal retina, where the events of phototransduction take place. Mutations of genes expressed in RPE have been associated with inherited retinal degenerative diseases, and damage to the RPE monolayer is thought to be an early event in age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the major cause of severe vision loss in people over the age of 60.
MicroRNAs (miRNAs or miRs) are a class of evolutionarily conserved noncoding RNAs encoded in the genomes of plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates. Many miRNAs are expressed in tissue-specific and developmental-stage-specific patterns, and changes in miRNA expression are observed in human pathologies.
There exists a need in the art for the identification and isolation of miRNAs and anti-miRNA molecules that interact with miRNAs and the use of these molecules to modulate miRNA-regulated biological functions, including those functions associated with epithelial tissues.